Powder metallurgy is often used to create products composed of pure metals or metal alloys. A powdered metal or multiple powdered metals blended together are compacted into a desired form. The powdered metal is then sintered by heating the powdered metal until the metal particles bond together. Metal powders have recently been used with additive manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing using laser or electron beam (EB) techniques.
Titanium is one exemplary metal used in powder metallurgy. Titanium possesses exceptional properties including high strength, light weight, superior corrosion resistance, and better biocompatibility than most or all other metals. However, titanium is not currently in wide use except in the aerospace, medical, and defense industries. This is mainly due to the high cost of manufacturing titanium parts. Such manufacturing costs can be more than twenty times that of general purpose steel.